Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Publishing of Simpler Recycling government response and wider waste reforms

Lord Benyon: My Right Honourable friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Dr Thérèse Coffey) has made the following Statement.Simpler recycling will help us all recycle more easily, doing our bit to help save the planet and make the best use of precious resources that we use every day.On Saturday 21 October, we published the Government response to the Simpler Recycling consultation (formerly known as Consistency in Household and Business Recycling in England)These new waste reforms make it easier for households and businesses to recycle by introducing a simpler approach to waste collections. This common-sense approach means an end to the post code lottery so, for the first time, people across England will be able to recycle the same materials, as well as get weekly food waste collections. Whatever product you buy with the recycling logo, all your food you don’t use, you will be able to recycle it at home – wherever you live. In line with the Environment Act 2021, we are requiring all councils to collect seven different types of waste from your doorstep to be recycled - glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, garden and food waste. We will also require councils to collect other residual waste at least fortnightly.That does not mean households need seven bins though. The areas with the highest recycling rates use just three bins or boxes for every home to collect this already. If it works for those parts of the country, the government thinks that this approach can be undertaken by all councils. To that end, we will be legislating in early 2024 to enable that. It will still be for councils to decide how many bins or boxes they offer households. We have listened to councils and households and as part of the simpler recycling policy, local authorities will have the flexibility to design and implement the reforms that works for their geographical areas and citizens.We will also bring in stricter laws for those who manage and transport waste in England, and introduce mandatory digital waste tracking across the UK – taking on the dodgy-dealers, rogue-operators, and fly-tipping cowboy criminals who blight our countryside and cost our economy £1 billion every year.Alongside Simpler Recycling, we are also cracking down on waste crime to prevent illegal waste from blighting our communities and damaging the environment. Across England, we will be bringing in stricter regulations for those who manage and transport waste (carriers, brokers and dealers), as well as introducing mandatory digital waste tracking across the UK, using powers in the Environment Act to overhaul existing waste record keeping.As set out in our landmark Resources and Waste Strategy, we will go further and faster to reduce, reuse, and recycle more of our waste and resources, helping to leave the environment in a better state than we found it for future generations.Together these measures will help us to achieve our 25 Year Environment Plan commitment to eliminate avoidable waste by 2050, our Environment Act target to halve the amount of residual waste we produce per person by 2042, and our recycling ambition of recycling 65% of municipal waste by 2035. Simpler Recycling will significantly contribute to the Net Zero Strategy commitment to, ‘explore options for the near elimination of biodegradable municipal waste to landfill from 2028.’ This policy will be the main contributor to reducing residual municipal food waste per capita by the equivalent of 50% from 2019 levels, set out in the Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP). The Government remains committed to delivering the environmental benefits of its Resources and Waste package of reforms.

Treasury

Draft Finance Bill legislation: VAT & Excise Update

Baroness Penn: My honourable friend the Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Victoria Atkins) made the following Written Ministerial Statement on FridayThe government is committed to taking full advantage of the opportunities available following EU exit to improve the tax system and has made strong progress in removing, replacing and improving retained EU tax law. This includes disapplying direct EU regulations in relation to customs, VAT and excise and introducing a UK tariff and domestic customs regime, including a range of easements and facilitations that were not available under EU rules. The government has also introduced a number of other reforms following EU exit, including: revising and modernising the VAT rules for the importation of low value parcels; changing the rules of duty free and tax free shopping; reforming the rules on VAT on cross-border financial services; introducing a zero rate of VAT for women’s period products; expanding the VAT relief for the installation of energy-saving materials and introducing a temporary zero rate; and overhauling the UK’s alcohol duty regime to radically reform the way duty is charged on alcohol, the biggest change in 140 years. The government remains committed to embedding this approach and continuing to take advantage of the opportunities provided by EU exit to reform and improve the tax system through the established Finance Bill and tax policy-making process. For example, Spring Budget 2023 announced that the government would continue discussions with interested stakeholders on reform of the VAT rules on fund management and possible reforms to simplify the VAT treatment of financial services, with the aim of reducing inconsistencies and providing businesses with greater clarity and legal certainty. On 18 July 2023, the government published a consultation on legislative reforms to modernise the legislation that underpins the VAT treatment of certain wholesale commodity transactions. This consultation closed on 12 September 2023 and the government is now considering the responses. Building on this progress, and in line with the Tax Policy Making framework, the government is publishing draft legislation in relation to retained EU law for VAT and excise ahead of potential inclusion in the next Finance Bill. While the final contents of the next Finance Bill will be a decision for the Chancellor, the draft legislation is being published to seek stakeholder views at this stage. This allows for technical consultation and provides taxpayers with predictability over future tax policy changes. This legislation clarifies how VAT and excise legislation should be interpreted in the light of changes made by the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023 (REUL Act). The REUL Act ends the supremacy and special status afforded to retained EU law in the UK. In relation to VAT and excise, the government confirms that it will no longer be possible for any part of any UK Act of Parliament or domestic subordinate legislation to be quashed or disapplied on the basis that it was incompatible with EU law. ​​​As previously announced, the government is taking a bespoke approach in relation to​​​ UK VAT and excise law ​so that it ​continues to be interpreted as Parliament intended,​ drawing on​​​ rights and principles that currently apply in interpreting UK law. This legislation ensures the stability of the VAT and excise regimes and provides legal certainty for business following the changes in the REUL Act taking effect. It mitigates the risk of re-litigating settled interpretation of UK law, protecting billions of pounds of Exchequer revenue - VAT and excise duty from alcohol, tobacco and hydrocarbon oil raise over £200 billion of revenue per year. The draft legislation is accompanied by a Tax Information and Impact Note and an Explanatory Note. The documentation has been placed in the Libraries of the House and can be found at:www.gov.uk/government/publications/interpretation-of-vat-and-excise-legislation

Department for Transport

Bus Funding Update

Baroness Vere of Norbiton: My Right Honourable friend, the Secretary of State for Transport, has made the following Ministerial Statement:Buses are the most popular form of public transport in our country. They are an essential part of our national transport system, in both urban and rural areas, playing a vital part in levelling up.In his speech on 4 October the Prime Minister announced, from the savings made by cancelling HS2 phase 2, that we will channel additional funding into better buses across the North and the Midlands.Today I am pleased to announce £150 million new funding for local transport authorities in the North and the Midlands over the next financial year. This is the first tranche of £1 billion in new funding to improve bus services; £770 million for the North and nearly £230 million for the Midlands. This funding is in addition to the £1.1 billion for BSIPs announced in 2022 and 2023, and the £300 million to protect and enhance bus services through Bus Service Operators Grant plus (BSOG+) and Bus Services Improvement Plan plus (BSIP+) announced in May.The £150 million committed today is from redirected HS2 funding, part of our new £36 billion Network North plan which will improve the daily transport connections that matter most to people, benefitting more people, in more places, more quickly.We are giving this funding directly to local authorities, so that they can work in partnership with bus operators to decide how best to use it to deliver better services that meet the needs of each local area. This new funding can be used to reintroduce evening services to support the night-time economy, cheaper fares through ticket price caps, increase service frequency meaning less waiting time for passengers, or introduce new routes to connect previously unconnected areas. We estimate that the £150 million we are confirming today is enough to support up to 25 million miles of new bus services.Further details and anticipated allocations for next year’s funds will be published today for individual local transport authorities, and details of the remainder of this £1 billion new investment will be announced in due course.Our support for the bus sector and passengers alike does not end there. The £2 bus fare cap has already made a huge difference, holding down prices and helping protect the bus market as it recovers. First launched for three months, the scheme has proven hugely popular and was extended until 31 October, to be followed by a £2.50 cap until November 2024, with £335 million committed to deliver these caps, save passengers money, and grow the economy. In England, outside London, bus fares last year fell 7.4%, whereas in Scotland, Wales and London, where the buses are devolved, fares increased by 10.3%, 6.3% and 6.0%, respectively.Again, using the savings from HS2, we will extend the £2 fare right across England until the end of December 2024. This means the Government has committed nearly £600 million to cap bus fares. With over 140 bus operators currently running more than 5,000 routes in the scheme, maintaining the cap at £2 will ensure passengers all over the country can continue to save significant sums of their regular travel costs until 2025 and help encourage more people to get on board buses.Finally, our support for buses includes community transport too. Community transport offers transport for people who have difficulty using, or no access to, regular bus services or other public transport. Funding until June 2023 supported community transport operators during the COVID-19 pandemic by paying operators the same level of the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) as they received pre-COVID, regardless of services run. This has allowed operators to run services that might otherwise have been cancelled.I am also announcing today that the Government will continue to provide increased financial support to these community transport operators to help protect these key services by uplifting their bus service operator grant claims by 60%. This significant support will be available to operators for claims from 1 July 2023 to the end of March 2025, matching the duration of the BSOG+ support scheme. This enhanced funding comes as part of the Government’s nearly £260 million annual BSOG to support bus services in England outside of London. BSOG also includes up to £213 million for commercial bus operators and, for the tenth year, £42 million for Local Authorities.Taken together, this is one of the biggest ever packages of support for buses and bus users we have ever put in place – vital support for our most used public transport.

Department of Health and Social Care

Publication of Shared Outcomes Toolkit for Integrated Care Systems

Lord Markham: My Hon Friend the Minister of State (Minister for Social Care) (Helen Whately) has made the following Written Statement:Shared outcomes in health and care are a powerful tool for driving integration in Integrated Care Systems. As shared priorities, they bring organisations together to deliver on a common purpose for the people they serve. This is why shared outcomes were an important part of our integration white paper (IWP), Joining up Care for People, Places and Populations, which outlined opportunities to progress further on the integration of health and social care.Since the IWP was published, we have seen good progress in places developing local shared outcomes focused on addressing the needs of their populations and with a focus on health improvement. We have heard a consistent message from stakeholders that place leaders should have autonomy to select local outcomes that are appropriate to the needs of their populations, whilst also complementing national priorities. Our approach to supporting the development of shared outcomes reflects this feedback.I am therefore pleased to update the House that we have published the shared outcomes toolkit.Just as the Government has provided the NHS with a more focussed set of priorities in the mandate published in 2023, we are supporting places through this toolkit to develop local outcomes and priorities that are as impactful as possible for local people. The publication of the shared outcomes toolkit also meets recommendations made in the Hewitt Review and the Health and Social Care Select Committee hearing report into integrated care systems (ICSs), both of which recommended that Government publish the shared outcomes framework as soon as possible.This toolkit shares the learning from places that are further on in their development of shared outcomes, and includes case studies, examples of good practice, and suggestions for overcoming challenges. It is designed to be a resource to support places in developing shared outcomes, and recognising that places will be at different levels of maturity.With the support this toolkit offers, we expect all places in each ICS will be able to evidence the work they are doing towards developing shared outcomes by March 2024. Going forward, shared outcomes are referenced as evidence in the Care Quality Commission (CQC) single assessment framework and this evidence may be considered as part of the CQC ICS reviews and assessments.As places progress with their outcomes frameworks we will consider how the balance between nationally mandated and locally driven priorities is working in practice and review the commonalities that may inform the development of national shared outcomes.The shared outcomes toolkit is available on the GOV.UK website, and copies have been deposited in the Libraries of both Houses.

Cabinet Office

Update on the Government response to the Infected Blood Inquiry

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: My Rt Hon Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office and HM Paymaster General, Jeremy Quin MP, has today made the following statement:The Infected Blood Inquiry Chair has announced that the Inquiry’s final report has been delayed from Autumn 2023 and will now be published in March 2024. I recognise the calls for urgency from those who have suffered and continue to suffer, and I remain committed to responding to the Inquiry as quickly as the Government is able to do so. However, it is only reasonable that the Government’s response is fully informed by Sir Brian’s final report.I am aware that for some the Inquiry, as well as the ongoing parliamentary and public interest in this important issue, has meant reliving painful memories and feelings of loss and grief. I have been deeply moved to hear of the suffering and trauma that each individual has encountered as a result of this tragedy.The timetable of the Inquiry is a matter for the independent Chair and the Government supports his desire to complete the Inquiry’s vital work quickly but with the necessary thoroughness. The Government continues to fully support the Inquiry in its important work and is working hard to be ready to respond.I will update Parliament as soon as it is appropriate.